He’s been from hero to zero – now comes Roman Bednar’s road to redemption.

If the shamed Albion striker was looking for a platform on which to rebuild his reputation, he found it where he least expected it at Bramall Lane.

Having spent the last two months laying the foundations on which to rebuild his life, Bednar has turned his attentions to his football.

It appeared that the likable Czech might have to stay patient as he waited for a chance in the Baggies team.

But suddenly, much sooner than anyone expected, Bednar is once more an integral cog in an Albion Championship machine.

The timing of the punishment meted out for his cocaine use has handed the big forward a golden opportunity. His emphatic performance in the steel city suggested he has no intention of looking this gift horse in the mouth.

The path to complete forgiveness remains a long one for Bednar who, for a section of Albion supporters, has dented the moral fabric of the club he had previously helped to fire to the Premier League.

But his pledge to prove his worth all over again appears to be a heartfelt one.

His efforts in Sheffield on Saturday have at least assured him a sufficient footballing chance to build the bridges he burned during a Premier League campaign that spiralled downwards both on and off the field.

Having missed the opening weeks of the Roberto Di Matteo regime as he sat at home awaiting his fate, Bednar has walked back into a team that might just suit him better than any side under Tony Mowbray.

For all his vital goals in the Championship triumph of two years ago, Bednar never quite seemed to fit in to Mowbray’s Albion.

Close friends of the striker maintain the former Baggies boss had to be persuaded to sign him from Hearts. His style of play always looked ill-suited to a Mowbray team.

Bednar is rarely pretty but often effective. That is a combination Mowbray is loathed to accept, either in his teams or his players.

Di Matteo, on the other hand, has already demonstrated a pragmatism that could see Bednar finally find a natural niche in a side he pretty-much gatecrashed two seasons ago.

When his chance arrived under Mowbray, it was only once all other forward options were either injured or suspended.

Seventeen goals, a Championship triumph and an FA Cup semi-final later, the big man was a promotion hero and a Hawthorns favourite.

It was that status that he risked recklessly when he gave in to temptation off the field during a difficult campaign on it last season.

But the vast bulk of Albion fans have extended olive branches towards their errant star and he has promised not to let them down again. As first steps go, Saturday’s were none too shabby. For 45 minutes it appeared his return to League action might be workmanlike but flat.

Having taken his surprise place in the starting line-up instead of the injured Chris Wood, Bednar, like Albion, toiled hard to subdue the rudimentary threats of the Blades, but found little inspiration of their own heading forwards.

The home side struggled too in a first 45 minutes lacking any real spark. Keith Treacy showed one or two moments of promise for the Blades and his best cross of the half allowed Darius Henderson to head straight at Scott Carson in the Baggies goal.

Jonas Olsson and Shaun Cummings both made important blocks inside the box for the Baggies, as United enjoyed a marginal edge in the first period.

Albion’s only real threat came from a deflected Jerome Thomas shot and a Robert Koren free-kick, neither of which posed any serious threat to Mark Bunn’s goal.

But within moments of the restart, Albion, Bednar and the game itself came to life.

Koren had already fired just wide for Albion and Stephen Quinn had called Carson into action, when Bednar took his first leap back into the affections of Baggies fans.

It was a goal typical of the big Czech, who hails from Prague but could have been raised in Preston, such are his strengths as a typical English centre-forward.

He delivered the lay-off that set up the overlapping Shaun Cummings before steaming into the box, darting away from his marker and meeting the young full-back’s cross with a powerful goalscoring header.

The advantage lasted just a minute, before a scruffy goal for the visitors that left Albion frustrated.

Jamie Ward was afforded too much room on the left and his cross found Ched Evans, who was unmarked in the six-yard box to head home.

But Bednar now had the taste for goals and his second was the kind he would probably never have scored under Mowbray.

Carson launched a high clearance down the field, and while Andy Taylor focused on clattering Bednar, he kept his attentions on the ball and nipped behind the Blades defender before blasting past Bunn.

The script appeared to be complete with Bednar grabbing the plaudits, but United produced the kind of resilience and no-frills assault that will put them among the promotion favourites.

Ward had a goal ruled out for offside and referee Phil Crossley waved away a series of penalty appeals as the Blades peppered the visitors’ box.

Yet with each shout for a spot-kick the roars from the Bramall Lane stands became louder. The pressure was building and it was no surprise when an innocuous clash between Cummings and Henderson was enough to persuade the official to blow his whistle.

Substitiute David Cotterill made no mistake from the spot despite a valiant attempt from the diving Carson.

It was a cruel blow for the Baggies, yet when the players returned to training this morning they can reflect on an opening month to the season that few could have dared to predict.

They are unbeaten and on top of the pile. And they might just have an old hero ready to be a new hero all over again.

By Steve Madeley